Within many fields substrates and wafers must be processed, stored and otherwise moved within a factory, assembly line, or system. Since the introduction of the 300 mm wafer semiconductor material, Front Opening Unified Pods, or “FOUPs,” have become the standard storage and transport method of substrates and similar materials. FOUPs have been used to isolate and hold silicon wafers for use in semiconductor production. Semiconductors, fundamental in the design of digital circuitry, microprocessors, and transistors, require these wafers to remain in as close to immaculate condition as storage units allow. Accordingly, FOUPs allow wafers to be transferred between other machines used in the processing and measurement of wafers.
Prior FOUPs generally serve to preserve wafers from the surrounding clean room environment. In conventional semiconductor projects, FOUPs allow wafers to enter the apparatus via a load port and front opening door. Often, robot handling mechanisms may place the wafers into the FOUP, where they may be clamped in place by fins and held for later use. Yet FOUPs today may be hampered by methods and system designs which may contaminate their contents, chafe wafers, and delay loading and unloading of substrate wafer contents as a result of multifarious construction. Thus, there may be a need for an invention that more efficiently and accurately accomplishes the desired tasks of FOUPs.
Additionally, FOUPs may be hampered by their design in that they cannot hold wafers at a reasonably high density. Manufacturing and processing require that wafers and substrates be provided in high numbers, through small areas and footprints to many locations or aspects in a system. With higher density carriers, faster and more efficient production can be made. Additionally, FOUPs lack many features aiding in cleanliness, efficiency and contamination reduction, as well as other aspects, and do not provide for space saving or high density holding or carrying of wafers and substrates. As such FOUPs then may be inefficient and unable to provide for the needs of today's substrate and wafer manufacturing and processing.
Issues with prior substrate storage devices may be exacerbated with construction sizes of typical FOUPs, which may be produced in multiple stages of multiple parts, typically holding a maximum of 25 wafer jobs of 300 mm wafer fibs and device heights of upwards of 330 mm. Recalling that high volume shipments may be imperative, the size of these FOUPs hamper scaling efforts and diminish efficiency by requiring the construction of the storage FOUPs in steps and parts, especially if smaller sized containers may be created to contain the same volume of substrate. Thus, a substrate storage device which streamlines construction processes may increase efficiency of creation, storage and ease of replication in the manufacturing process.
Therefore, an improved carrier may be needed which provides substrate or wafers with contamination reduction, improved transportation and efficiency, as well as other features in semiconductor manufacturing or like processes. These improved carriers may have aspects necessary for clean efficient processing, storage or manufacturing. Also, a need exists for simultaneously providing higher density wafer and substrate carrying as well as an ability to access high density carriers and storages efficiently and quickly, including improvements such as tracking, identification etc. as well as being able to be implemented in existing FOUP systems and other systems.